Endless Lies (Lies #6) - Ella Miles Page 0,54

boat.

“Which way?” Corbin asks at the back. He’ll be the one driving the boat.

I look in each direction. There is no obvious way to go, but my heart is pulling me west.

“This way,” I point in the direction of the setting sun.

We take off. Each of us holds our gun at our side, ready to fight for a girl who has won our hearts. Before, I might not have believed they were on my side, but after everything that has happened, they are at least on Liesel’s side.

“There they are!” Maxwell shouts from the front of the boat.

We all turn, and in the far off distance is their boat, floating in the middle of the sea.

“Hurry!” I shout back to Corbin.

“We’re going as fast as this thing goes!” he shouts back.

Jesus, it’s going to take forever to reach them.

There is nothing else to do but hope we get to them before he threatens her life. We are so close, and yet we can’t protect her from here. We have to get closer.

I squint my eyes, trying to get a good view of what’s happening, but I can barely make out their bodies sitting on the boat.

Liesel jumps.

Not off the boat like I want her to, but she tackles her father.

None of us speak as we speed as fast and as close as we can.

We all raise our guns, ready to take aim the second we can.

We watch in horror as Liesel battles her father.

She punches him hard in the face, knocking him out.

I breathe a sigh of relief.

Then, she does the craziest thing. She starts up the boat, but instead of driving it toward us, she drives it away.

“What is she doing?” Maxwell asks.

“No clue; follow her,” I tell Corbin.

Our boat must be faster than hers, or she isn’t driving at full speed because we are catching up to her.

“I’m going to jump,” Maxwell says as the tip of our boat comes along the side of the back of hers.

He jumps onto her boat successfully. I move up to jump onto her boat as well when Liesel’s eyes catch mine. She turns her boat sharply, and we speed past her.

“Liesel!” I yell, confused by her actions.

“Max will help her steer in the right direction,” Corbin says.

I don’t think she’s having problems steering. I think she’s doing it on purpose, but I don’t tell Corbin that.

“Just get us back to her boat,” I yell.

Corbin sharply course corrects our boat.

Maxwell furiously grabs Liesel.

“What the hell is he doing?” I ask, terrified that he’s hurting her as she kicks and screams in his arms.

Corbin doesn’t answer me. It’s clear he isn’t sure either. We are definitely missing something, but I don’t know what.

He drops her into the sea as she screams something back at him.

Then he grabs the engine’s controls, and the boat speeds off away from us.

“Liesel,” I yell as we approach her, floating in the ocean.

I dive into the water and swim toward her just as her head comes up out of the water.

I wrap my arms around her, never feeling safer than I am now. I’m never letting her go again—never.

“You have to stop Maxwell. My father started a bomb. I couldn’t diffuse it. It’s got less than a minute before it explodes,” she cries into my arms.

“Shit.”

Corbin pulls up next to us, and I quickly help her onto the boat before I pull myself up.

“Maxwell! Jump!” I yell, hoping he’ll hear me and jump. It’s his only chance.

We won’t make it to him in time. We can’t get any closer without risking the bomb killing us all, either.

Maxwell turns and looks at Corbin before jumping into the ocean. He hits the water just as the bomb goes off.

Liesel shrieks.

Corbin freezes.

I close my eyes, unable to handle the most likely outcome.

I turn to Liesel, who looks the more stable out of the two of them. “Stay here until I tell you it’s safe to come closer.”

She nods, and then I kiss her on her lips. One passionate kiss to hold us over, but it won’t be the last. I dive into the water to swim closer, hoping to find Maxwell alive and her father dead.

The boat has been blown into a million pieces. I have no doubt that her father was planning on tossing the bomb onto our boat at the last second. Instead, his own need to control his daughter’s life led to his death.

I see blood and pieces of his body floating in the water, and relief of